Pictures of Apartment

I took some photos of the apartment today and added a few from my dad today. You can view the pictures here.

Today, Jane and I went to the Health center to see if we both could make appointments for next week. Unfortunately for us, the times available were all during Bren Orientation times. So...we have to call next week and ask them to put us into the system so we can make our own appointment and check for more times. I don't get why they couldn't have us all set-up to access our health insurance and appointments by now! Bren has it set-up where our insurance is supposed to start on the 1st of Sept. Everyone else starts the 20th or 24th. Honestly, I basically don't have health insurance till everyone else does and I'm supposed to have it 3 weeks earlier. Something they definitely need to work on!

After that we went to the CSO (Campus Safety Officer) office to get our bikes registered. So my bike now has a National Bike Registry sticker and registration (lasts 10 years, costs $10, and law enforcement offices can access it) and a California Bicycle License. They last 3 years (expire on Dec 31st of the 3rd year) and cost $6. They also stamped/engraved onto the frame of the bike (where the pedals are, underneath there) the county it was registered and the month/year. With my two locks (I'm hoping my u-lock is wide enough...) and two registrations, I can't get more "protection" for my bike than having someone watch it! The CSO said that she lost her seat once (I have a cable to help prevent that), but, after alcohol crimes (not sure what that is), bike theft is the worst thing on campus. Sometimes it's just a front tire, sometimes the seat, etc. She also said bike traffic gets pretty heavy once school starts too. So Jane and I joked saying we're going to be stuck in traffic, but it'll be bike traffic! Jane and I tomorrow and/or Saturday are going to try biking and walking to Bren to see how long it takes. We both want to switch off between walking and biking. We both need to brush up on the bike traffic rules/laws around here. I guess they're pretty picky about the bike rules and everyone yields for a bike on campus. The funny thing about going to the CSO today is we saw the campus police bikes and they're Specialized bikes! LoL So I have the same brand as the campus police bikes.

Jane and I also figured out that the stadium we can see from our window is the soccer stadium. So it'll be nice if we want to see a soccer game we can just walk to the stadium instead of having to drive/park and all that bothersome stuff.

I'm getting used to the planes taking off and landing at the airport too. It's kind of fun to watch when you're just zoning off into space. You suddenly see a plane take off. I still think it stinks that SB's airport doesn't have any flights that go to Monterey. Oh well. One day I will get over that! It's also kind of fun to see anyone who is playing on the soccer field too. I definitely like our view for sure.

Tonight we might go out with some other Bren students to this winery that has live music on Fridays. We'll see. I'm still adjusting to here, but it'll be fine. I'm hoping to rest up between now and Monday. Get 100% over my cold and get some sleep in! My bed seems a bit too hard for me. My back is fine (not my normal problem area), but the spot right between my shoulder blades is starting to bother me a little. It's not unusual for it to happen (I hold tension in that area), but it's particularly sore when I first wake up. I'm hoping it's just me needing to adjust. If it gets too bad, I might be making a stop somewhere to get something to "soften" up my bed a bit.

Anyway, with that. I think I'll grab something to eat and read for a bit. Maybe even nap.

I'm here!

Guess where I am! I'm in my apartment in Santa Barbara! I've finished unpacking everything. I just need to clean the dishes and stuff in the kitchen and put them away, but everything else is put away in a proper place! I'll take pictures later.

The apartment is on the 2nd floor, kind of at the end/middle. It's kind of complicated to explain, but we're in the middle of the complex or "village," but at the end of the row (there's a "pathway" through the middle of the complex). We're actually 2nd to last, but not bad. We have a view of the (or a) soccer field and the "mountains" too. MUCH better than a hallway, the inner part of the complex (view of the other rooms), the parking lot, or road. I also feel a little safer being on the second floor. I can leave my bedroom window open and all that. We have electronic key access into our apartment (think hotel key, but we "wave" this small black square-ish thing in front instead of swiping) and a personal key to our bedroom in the apartment. Kind of funny, but nice too. If you had a roommate you didn't get along with or they had a friend you didn't trust, you can lock your room!

I'm excited to go to class, but the no car thing worries me a little. I know once I get used to it and where everything is it'll be okay, but it still worries me. I do know, even if I had my license (still working on it!), there's no way I could afford the gas, insurance, upkeep and all that. As is, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to pay my $60/month phone bill. LoL

I have to buy a few more things, but I have quite a lot already (in the way of things I need). Not a whole lot more I need. I'll mainly be buying food tomorrow. I do wish I had something up on the wall over my bed, though. It's so...plain...I have a calendar up next to the desk and one over the bookshelf next to the door, but the wall over my bed looks too plain. I wish I had brought a poster from home now. I could have brought a movie poster. Or I wish I bought one from the aquarium (more fitting). We'll see, though. I did bring my plants (even though one is dying and I'm not sure why considering I've kept it alive for 4-5 years now), which has helped cheer up my desk and room a great deal. I also have a small stained glass mobile with horse heads on it my mom got me for Christmas. So...at least the right side of my room (desk side) is cheerful. I suppose a bed is supposed to only be used for sleeping. LoL

I admit there are two weird things for me being in this room - so far. 1) I'm using a closet with doors. I know that sounds funny, but you have to remember I've had a walk-in closet for the past 9 years! My closet at home is all "organized." Here, everything is on the same bar. LoL Plus, I have to move doors to get to the other end of my closet. Sad, aren't I? 2) I have to leave my room to get to the bathroom. Again, sounds weird, but I've had my own personal bathroom IN my room for the past 9 years! My room is the old master bedroom. So you walk through my room door and there's a hallway with the bathroom and closet door off to the left. Sharing a bathroom isn't bad (I have done it before with my brothers and Kristi), it's just the fact I have to leave my room to use the bathroom. I am glad that each of us gets our own medicine cabinet, though. I managed to fill mine up somehow...Kind of sad considering I won't use the majority of that stuff much at all. Oh well.

Anyway, with that. I think I'll read and hit the sack. I haven't been sleeping much the past few days. Pictures to come!

The End of an Era: Borders

Monday was my final day for working for Borders. It was sad, but it was definitely time since our store (along with the company) is simply dying. As Chris says, I'm envied and hated by everyone at work. :P Envied because I got to leave; hated because I left. This week we've had a team from another store come in to help us get through our pallets of books we have sitting in our back warehouse (12 pallets?). Also, there's no incentive for me to transfer to another store too. The company doesn't care, why should I? On top of it, I really don't want to work my first two quarters (probably the year). Everyone recommends you not do that, if you can. I have enough loans to cover me through the years, so I am. Course, that means I am jobless! It feels weird since I'm also on leave from the aquarium too. I'll be going to school full-time and, by the way it sounds, I'll need all that time! I will miss my employee discount (33% off books/CDs, 20% DVDs, 10% mags), the ability to check out books from the store (hardcover and large paperbacks), and keeping up with the latest and newest books (almost every book I own I bought from Borders during my time there). I will also miss my co-workers who I got along with and had fun with. But, for all of that, I don't regret leaving or really miss it. It was definitely time.

For kicks and giggles, I thought I'd relive some of my more "memorable" customers/job requests from the past 5 years.

Customer #1: Adoption Lady - This Asian lady came into work to look up books about infanticide (think genocide, but for infants). First off, I've never been asked that at work before and I told her we didn't have anything in store. Then she started to tell me why she wanted it. Basically, because China has the population issue and only one child thing, there's been a lot of infant killings and all that. She was reading about it. She then asked me for another book, which we had in store. She said it was about these girls being adopted from China. I told her it sounded interesting because I'm adopted - WRONG thing to say! She immediately wanted to know where I was adopted from (I told her) and the next thing I know, I'm getting a lecture about how adopted children have suppressed rage and anger issues. I tried to tell her I don't think this is true and I get an ear full about how she adopted two kids from China (her daughter was found along the road) and she proceeds to tell me all about her two kids and their lives. (I feel like I know her kids problems really well...) She goes back to the anger issue and says, "I think I have some authority in this matter, considering I adopted two kids." I'm standing there thinking, "no." I tried to loose her 3 times too, but she'd find me after I helped a customer. FINALLY I got rid of her because I said, "I really need to work." And she said, "yeah, I have to go." *rolls eyes*

Customer #2: Fence Phone Lady - One of the funniest phone conversations I've had. Went something like this.

Me: Thank you for calling Borders in Sand City. This is Bethany. How may I help you?
Customer: Hi. What kind of borders do you have?
Me: Excuse me?
Customer: I'm looking for some borders for my backyard. Like a small fence.
Me: Uh...you called Borders. We're a bookstore.
Customer: Oh! I'm sorry! I'm new in town and I didn't know.

She must have lived somewhere where Borders didn't exist. :P

Customer #3: Phone Complaint Guy - Working at a bookstore, you get a lot of complaints and some of them are off the wall and some of them are valid. In this case, it was completely stupid and happened my 2nd to last day at work. We were busy and the phone was ringing off the hook (pretty normal these days) and I was walking by a customer to help another customer and paged over our walkie talkies for someone to please answer the phone. The customer I walked by said, "Yeah, that phone is really annoying. Turn it off." I said, "I'm sorry sir, we're really busy." He said, "Well, it has the most annoying ring tone I've ever heard." As I'm walking away from him, I say, "I'm sorry, but the other ring tone option we have is even more annoying than this one, if you can believe it." I heard him mumble something, but I ignored it. Really? A phone ring tone? You're going to complain about that?! Especially when you're reading a book in a retail store, for free. Uh-huh...

Customer #4: Needy Customers - There are some instances where I think I work in a information center rather than a bookstore. Here a few examples:

Interior Designer: This guy comes into work saying he's moving into a new place and wants some ideas on what colors go together. His bedspread is a dark red color and he wanted to know what looked good with it. So I take him to the interior design section and pointed out some books for him (paint books). It's pretty standard that when you get something vague like that, you help the customer find a book that suits them or enough of an idea of what to look for that they can continue to shop on their own. Well, this guy was "helpless." He stood there and let ME flip through the books, asked ME what I thought, and when I told him THIS was a good book, he wouldn't take it! So, basically, I was a 15 minute interior designer. Told the guy which colors looked good together (what books were good also) and he walked out of the store not touching a book. *grumble, grumble*

Legal Advice: We get this phone call from this gentleman and he wants to know what the current bankruptcy law is. I have no clue (am I supposed to know everything?!) and I'm trying to find books that'll help him, but, in the mean time, he's getting mad. I come back saying, "I have no clue" and he asks for the manager. Uh-huh, swell. Luckily, the supervisor who talked to him actually DID know the new bankruptcy law. Can't win them all.

Personal Shopper: We love phone calls that go like this, "Hi, I'm looking for books on gemstones. Do you have any?" We say, "yes, we do. Is there one in particular you're looking for?" "No, but I'm looking for a book with this gem in it, can you go tell me which books have it?" So we go, check them out, get them all, tell them every title and the price and they go, "Great! Can you put <blank # of books> on hold for me? I'll come pick them up later." Honestly, can't YOU come into the store and look at them yourself?!

Personal Reader: Do you realize how many customers come to Borders (a bookstore) and then ask us to look something up or read something because they forgot their reading glasses? Honestly, I can't tell you how often it happens. "Will you, please? I forgot my glasses at home. *small chuckle*"

Customer #5: Need help, but not for books - Funny how it works, but working at Borders, you really have to have a general understanding of just about everything.

Directions: I can't tell you how many times I've had to give directions to people to Best Buy, the Aquarium, one particular building at CSUMB, Carmel, etc. It's amazing. We get a lot of people asking us to give directions on how to get to us (that's fine), but people will stop in our store to specifically ask for directions on how to get somewhere. Luckily for us, we sell maps! Not that we sell that many that way, but it helps.

Where to buy something: If we don't carry something in particular (like a game, globe, video game, dvd, cd, etc), we have to have back-up locations on where customers may find something like that - games: Target, globe: Target, video games: Best Buy, DVD/CD: Borders.com/Amazon.com, on-line, book weights: office supply store, etc.

The Kindle: We sell the Sony e-Reader at work. The Kindle is an exclusive amazon.com product (as they made it). I have to know the difference between the two, the pluses/minuses, about how much the books on-line cost, etc, etc, etc.

Customer #6: Germ Lady: I actually haven't seen her in a year or so, but she used to be a frequent customer at Borders. She has a phobia of germs. So she'd have you take her credit card out of a plastic bag, while she held the bag; she'd have us barely touch the bags/books when we handled them; she'd wipe down any chair she sat in and then leave her wipe in the crack of the chair for us to pick up. Oh yes, she was a joy to have in the store...

Customer #7: Russian Dictionary Guy: He got this name because he was first known for buying and returning Russian Dictionaries. He's since then moved on to other things, but we're pretty sure he was scamming us with the dictionaries at first. Now, we're all VERY wary of him and he STILL frequents the store a lot (I saw him last Sat). He also likes to take advantage of any new cashier. He'll purposefully try and get them to ring him up and then try to confuse them into giving him some discount or whatever. I've caught him a few times trying this and I get to walk over (the employee usually gives a "huh?" to him) and tell him the store policy, once again. He never pushes it when an oldie tells him what's-what too.

Well, I guess for now that's where I will leave it. Maybe I'll reminisce again about Borders another time, but - for now - that'll do. :)

Biiikkkeee!

I bought my bike today! I've been looking for sometime, but haven't found anything either within my price range or something I really liked. I finally found a hybrid bike I liked by Gary Fisher (the Tiburon, ironic since that's the model name of Chris's car!), but the cheapest I could find was $400, not within my price limit. Last night I finally decided to just bite the bullet and buy a bike I liked since it'll be my main mode of transportation in Santa Barbara and Gary Fisher is a good name brand. Chris said we'd go to Bobcat Bikes in Salinas today to check them out since they carried bikes and it was the last place around here we hadn't checked (we checked Aquarian - expensive, some other one in Monterey - expensive-ish, and REI - expensive).

They were nice, I liked them. They let me ride 3 bikes (with Chris staying at the place as collateral - LoL) around the neighborhood. (I think I saw 8 cops on my 3 rides around the block - one pulled over a car too.) I tried a Specialized (the brand name) 17" women's mountain bike, a 15" Specialized men's mountain bike ($50 cheaper than the women's one), and a Trek 16" men's road bike. I originally was going to get a mountain bike, then decided on a hybrid, then was going to get a mountain bike on Amazon.com because it was cheaper, and then decided to go back to a hybrid once I found the Tiburon, and went to Bobcat Bikes with the idea of getting a hybrid. As luck would have it, I ended up leaving with the Specialized 17" women's mountain bike. LoL It's a $400 bike with a front suspension and, I think, 21 speeds. It has v-brakes (normal bike brakes, not disc). Chris likes disc brakes better (and they are supposed to be better), but they cost more and, I tell you, it's not easy to find a bike with disc brakes. It was my original intention to get them and that went out the door (along with my original price range of $150 for a bike...) once I realized how hard it was to get them. I also decided to go with the mountain bike because once I got into shape (boy, oh boy, do I need to get into shape), I can go mountain biking with Chris. :) Granted, my butt will hurt a lot (having no back suspension - called a hardtail bike), but it'll be fun. Chris isn't impressed with the shock I have (urban...soemthing...), which is about the lowest brand of shock you can have, but Chris asked the guy why they don't use rock shocks on the bike. The guy told him it made the bike cheap. :P Chris was concerned about how long the shock would actually last me and the guy said if I went biking in Fort Ord 5-days a week, it'd be a problem, but since I'm mostly using it as a road bike, it'll be okay.

To say the least, I bought a nicer bike instead of a Huffy or Schwinn because this bike will last me. Also, Chris is a biker and knows stuff about bikes and he probably wouldn't go near me and my bike with a 10' pole if I bought a Huffy or Schwinn. :P I also bought the bike in-store rather than on-line because I actually got to TEST the bike and check the height and all that. That was, I must admit, a lot of value right there for me. I'm kind of in a funky range for height of bikes and not all bikes are quite the same, so it was nice to know this bike worked for me. On top of it, Specialized on-line sells the bike for about $450 and some other places sell it for a bit more. So Bobcat Bikes really did have the best price. It's also the 2010 model.

Earlier today I was laughing because I told Chris, "Goodness. You got me into gaming; I know stuff about cars now; and now I know about bikes!" Chris says, "You're moving up in the world!" *rolls eyes* I told him I'll have to teach him stuff about horses and he says no because I'll eventually need to buy a car and I'm biking now so I need to know about bikes. I guess he has a point. LoL (He did read the first 4 Harry Potter books for me, though. :P ) From what I learned from Chris in regards to brands, it goes Huffy, Schwinn, Mongoose, Trek, Specialized, then Gary Fisher. Huffy/Schwinn being close and Trek/Specialized also being close.

I now need to buy a bike light, bike seat cover, bike mini pump, and bike lock. *sigh* I'm bleeding money. Why in the world did I think I could quit Borders on the 14th? LoL

My bike on Specialized's webpage. I have the brown stripe one. I think the picture is of the 15" one because the bar on my bike doesn't bend at all. It's perfectly straight. Chris and I found out there's a bend in some of the bikes to enable them to be "lower," but still support you when you stand.

Grad school roomie and apartment

I got my room assignment and roommate last week! My roommate is also a first year MESM student, which I'm very thankful for. It'll be nice to know someone immediately and understand a little of what I'm going through. I've found from CSUMB that rommates in different majors didn't always understand what ESSP students were going through with their workload and all that. So this will be nice.

I have my address for my apartment now and it's kind of weird, but I have one address for USPS mail and another for UPS, DHL, FedEx, and other independent carriers. Kind of weird...Must be how the city lines are drawn. My USPS address is in Santa Barbara, whereas my independent carrier address is in Goleta. The street number and apartment number are the same, just the cities and zips are different.

Other than that, there's a lot of e-mails bouncing around between MESM students, which is kind of nice. It seems like we're all going to get along really well. So I'm glad and excited about that.

My first registration pass starts at 3:45pm on Sept the 3rd. So I have to register ASAP to get the class times I want (we all get into the classes we want, just the times are different for labs). Most importantly, other than the times I want (I've already mapped out the times I want...LoL), I can't get my financial aid till I register for classes! My apartment fees and first rent is due the 15th of Sept and, though I'll get the money back, I'd rather get it deducted immediately from my financial aid rather than my pocket and then have to wait to get reimbursed.

I'm starting to look at textbooks on-line (the recommended ones to look over and one class's required texts) and I'm also going to need to start some writing exercises or something. My writing has deteriorated over the last year and the last thing I really want to do in the winter quarter is the writing workshop (I'm doing the no-credit calc and statistics workshops this fall quarter ON TOP of my 15 class units...).

My last day at Borders is the 31st of August. My last day at the Aquarium is the 30 of August. My shift is going to go out to dinner after shift on the 30th to have a "going away" dinner for me and for another shiftmate who is leaving for St. Andrews in Scotland for college! No clue about work, but I have another week before I leave to hang out with them.

Public Enemies

Chris and I saw Public Enemies yesterday. It's a 2.5 hour movie that, really, doesn't need to be 2.5 hours. It could have been fine at 2 hours or maybe even a little less. It is a shoot 'em up movie, so if you don't want to see practically everyone die, don't see it. Then again, it is a 1930's bank robber movie, so I suppose it's a little more expected. The cinematography was interesting. Most movies have that "touched up" feeling and not that "raw" film look to them. This one at times had a raw look to it, like certain parts they didn't want to touch up at all. They also did a lot of following people around with the camera (obviously not on a stand). So it kind of had a weird documentary/film feel to it at times (not often). The shooting scenes were good, though sometimes long. One in particular I started to zone out in the middle of and started thinking, "those are fake guns that have blanks in them. Look at all the light coming out of the end." Christian Bale did a good job, as did Johnny Depp, but depth lacked in this film. Character development was a little short too. Overall, though, it was enjoyable. Glad we went and saw it (especially as a matinee and not night), but it could have been a  DVD rental movie. B

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Continuing my summer movie reviews...

Chris and I saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs the day it opened (last Wednesday). It was really good. I wouldn't say it's much better (or worse) than the previous two, but I laughed and it was a good film. It might have been a bit better than the previous one (the meltdown), but I've thoroughly enjoyed the entire franchise. All the voice actors are back, which was nice. They're just as good as before and Buck (the one-eyed Weasel) is a great new character. The story pace was a good family film and Scrat is still after his acorn. The film could set-up nicely for a 4th film, so it'll be interesting if they decide to a 4th. I liked it enough that I'd see a 4th Ice Age film. B

Chris and I have a good chance of seeing Public Enemies this week.